Naturalist Notes
A Mono Basin Chronicle
August: down on Rush Creek low flows expose new pools, cut-off meanders, cut banks, and larger point bars, evidence of the work of the high spring flows ... ponds along the north shore are teeming with families of birds ... a northern pintail with 10 ducklings ... 170 male, female, and immature yellow-headed blackbirds share a pond with an American coot and two chicks as well as a female gadwall and her nine young ... and of course, Wilson's phalaropes ... gathering one evening are three Bonaparte's gulls in winter plumage ... great blue herons ... black-crowned night herons ... white faced ibises ... northern shovelers ... the fall Shorebird Count uncovers some local treasures ... three brants ... a short-eared owl and 31 Baird's sandpipers on the northeast shore ... 48 species of birds and 10,594 individuals in one day ... rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) finally starting to paint the basin yellow with its bright bloom ... a solitary solitary sandpiper ... dozens of hummingbird moths pollinating the bouncing bet (Saponaria officinalis) along Lee Vining Creek ... and crickets loud enough to be heard all the way along the creek trail.
September: bear tracks out in the Jeffrey pine forest ... a red-naped sapsucker hanging around the high school for Restoration Days ... pied-billed grebes, western grebes, and the first of the eared grebes to venture towards South Tufa while bats dart above heads and through the groves ... Sabine's gull sighted at various locations on the north shore ... an immature bald eagle at Bridgeport Reservoir ... an immature wood duck in June Lake ... saw-whet owls calling out by the craters ... a lazuli bunting feeding its young at the County Park ... and a jaegar harassing phalaropes on the west shore of Mono ... spadefoot toads on the north shore ... new snow covers Mt. Wood to Koip Peak and dusts Mt. Dana as well ... Tioga Pass is open ... closed ... open ... closed ... open ... and the 1.4 inches of precipitation we've had down here is double the average for the month ... winds are picking up and the lake is taking on its silver-blue winter hue ... California gulls hanging around with that solitary Sabine's gull, killdeer, eared grebes, American coots, and a flock of terns down along Rush Creek ... a bobcat and over 100 pinon jays spotted by a school group out at Panum Crater.
October: kayaking along the west shore uncovers many eared grebes and ruddy ducks ... springs well up healthily from below the water's surface between Mill and Wilson creeks ... and a piece of the County Park boardwalk most likely swept away by rising water's found stranded out to the east ... an albino eared grebe ... a sora hiding amongst the willows by the boardwalk ... the striking fall colors are reflected in the glassy waters of the lake as patches of aspen light up in a brilliant display of color signaling the coming of winter ... a sharp-shinned hawk harassing flickers at Old Marina ... leaves are falling rapidly due to cold temperatures making for a short but sweet set of colors ... ants processing woody debris left behind in the avalanche chutes above Old Marina ... evening grosbeaks and Clark's nutcrackers feeding on pine nuts above Log Cabin Mine amongst the lodgepole (Pinus contorta) and whitebark (Pinus albicaulis) pines ... blue grouse up by Lee Vining peak ... five bighorn rams spotted from the summit before a storm.
November: two wood ducks in the pond along DeChambeau Creek at Simis Ranch ... two female white-headed woodpeckers out at Indiana Summit ... Tioga Pass closed November sixth by the first significant winter storm of the season ... a loggerheaded shrike hanging out by Lee Vining Creek ... eared grebes in the thousands along the west shore seem to gravitate towards offshore springs ... days later their numbers more than quadruple ... while some California gulls are still sticking around ... high winds bring cold snows and patchy clear skies for the Leonid meteor showers ... a flock of snow geese off in the distance by "Gaines Island" were really something to see.
December: a red-tailed hawk spotted multiple times down at the crossing of Lee Vining Creek and the county road ... a kestrel on the move above the office ... chilly chilly winds blow away small dustings of snow ... 356 tundra swans, and it sure feels like winter.
Return to Winter 1999 Newsletter
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